Andreessen Horowitz Raises $1.5 Billion for New Fund

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has raised $1.5 billion for its fifth fund, maintaining its position as one of Silicon Valley’s best-capitalized investors.

This is the same size as Andreessen Horowitz’s past two funds and, like each of those efforts, includes a primary pool (which can do both early and late-stage deals), plus an overflow pool for portfolio companies that require significantly more capital. The breakdown this time is $1 billion for the main fund and $500 million for the parallel fund―the latter of which only collects management fees once capital is committed.

“We’re not macro-economists, so we don’t know how to forecast what the investment environment will look like over the life of this fund,” says Scott Kupor, managing partner of Andreessen Horowitz. “The parallel fund is basically a standby. If we have some great later-stage opportunities to do out of it, then we will. If not, we don’t have to invest all of it. Overall, the mix will probably be 65%-to-75% to early-stage deals.”

Kupor adds that the fund was oversubscribed, with all commitments coming from existing limited partners. Last year the firm also raised a $200 million life sciences-focused fund, which will remain separate from the flagship vehicle.

Andreessen Horowitz, founded in 2008 by Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen and former Opsware CEO Ben Horowitz, currently has eight partners. Kupor says that the number may grow by one or two over the course of the new fund’s life, but says there is no urgency to hire.